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Best High School Athlete

Ronecia Nash

East St. Louis has produced scores of legendary track-and-field stars, including Carmelita Williams, Dawn Harper and, of course, the incomparable Jackie Joyner-Kersee. Now we can add Ronecia Nash to the list. Nash led the East St. Louis High School Flyerettes to their first state track title in a decade; her performance at the Illinois state competition last May was simply astonishing. She began the day by anchoring the state record-setting run of her school's 400-meter relay team. Next she won the 100-meter hurdles. Ten minutes later she won the 100-meter dash for the second year in a row, notching a blistering 11.88 seconds. To cap it off, she repeated as the 200-meter dash champion. This year Nash will attend UCLA — Joyner-Kersee's alma mater — on a track scholarship.